Service Details
Name:
DIETERLEN
Given Name:
ROBERT ALFRED
Initials:
R A
Rank:
Corporal
Other Casualties of this Rank
Regiment:
Army of France 31 Battalion
Other Casualties from this Regiment
Unit:
Sharpshooters
Other Casualties from this Unit
Date of Death:
1915-09-25
Other Casualties on this Date
Date of Birth:
1885-08-30
Age:
30
Cause of Death:
Died of wounds, at Souchez
Additional
Information:
Son of the Rev. Hermann Dieterlen of the French Mission, Hermon, Basutoland. Born there, 30 August 1885; educated in France; B.A., University of Nancy, 1904; studied Divinity at Montauban Seminary, where he qualified for the ministry, and at Aberdeen University (Divinity, 1909-10); appointed by the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society to Barotseland, North Rhodesia. On the outbreak of war he immediately returned to France and joined his regiment, the 11th Infantry. He was wounded in action but as soon as he recovered, requested to be sent back to the Front. He was promoted Corporal in the 31st Battalion of Sharpshooters, and on 25 September 1915 the Battalion attacked near Souchez. In the desperate fighting Dieterlen was last seen severely wounded. He was officially reported ''missing'', and since the Armistice his death has been accepted. A devoted Christian, and a loyal Frenchman, he recognized at once the justice of the cause to which his country was suddenly called, and unhesitatingly put himself at her disposal. Having dedicated his life to the service of humanity, he found an equal duty and an equal glory in carrying the Gospel to the heathen, and in fighting enemies to those spiritual ideals which are essential to the progress of the race. In our University, of which he cherished grateful recollections, he is remembered for the purity and kindliness of his character, and for his keenness as a student.
Commemoration
Country:
France
Other Casualties commemorated in France
Locality:
Pas de Calais
Other Casualties commemorated in Pas de Calais
Cemetery:
French National Cemetery of Notre Dame de Lorette, Com. Of Ablain, St. Nazaire
Other Casualties commemorated in this Cemetery

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